Shop 'shell-shocked' by Adelaide shooting

The shooting of a man by police in Adelaide's CBD has left those in a convenience store nearby "shell-shocked", one witness says.

Anand Sambasivan, 20, says he was visiting his friend working at the Minimart on Hindley Street when a 26-year-old man was shot at by police on the street after pointing a gun at his three-year-old daughter.

The shooting ended a terrifying ordeal for a young mother, her daughter and seven-month-old son that began nearly three hours earlier when the man allegedly assaulted her at a Cumberland Park home.

He then abducted the woman and their two kids in a car, police say.

Mr Sambasivan says he heard the car crash as it was stopped by police on Hindley Street after 11pm.

"It was like boom. Everyone was shell-shocked. Everyone was just, you know, on their grounds and there was a lot of noise," he said.

He said he thought the man was then shot in the head by police and had died.